Or... "Oh, Hello, Super-Awesome-Large-Animal-Veterinarian With Whom I Like to Curse."

Seriously.  I've never seen another vet drop the f-bomb with a client.  He didn't do it the first visit - I had to work him up to it. :)

So, he got out there, asked me what was going on, felt on Arch's ankles and asked me to jog him.  We jogged on the soft ground, no problem.  He asked if there was anything more firm and I offered up the road in front of the pasture.  I normally try to avoid having the Kid directly on the road because it scares the shit out of me.  Old hunt memories of horses going down.

But, we jogged and he was again excellent.  Walking back up the barn, the vet told me his thoughts.  I really like this guy.  He knows I'm experienced, he knows I'm going to confer with other vets, and he doesn't dumb things down.  We talked about high versus low ringbone and intra-articular versus articular.  High ringbone is the large pastern, low ringbone is the smaller pastern or coffin bone.  Intra-articular actually involved the joint.  Articular does not.  From what he felt, he said that Archie had the makings of early high ringbone in his right front.  But, and he stressed this to me, Archie is completely sound.

He actually complimented the way the Kid lifts his feet - his big stride and engaged back end.  Things I never really get to see, but know when we're doing it because it feels amazing.

Doc said, given the soundness, radiographs were my decision.  I'm a big believer in baselines.  I think bloodwork should be done on animals (and us) yearly and if there is a suspicion of organs or bones changing or having abnormalities, I think we should pop images of those, too.  So, yeah, needless to say, we were getting x-rays done.  (Side note:  in small animal vet med, we always called them "rads".  My husband says that in human medicine, they never call them rads, always x-rays.)

While not horrible, the results weren't stellar.

Right front.  I circled that because it looks funny.  Also? Toe is too long.

Blue circles were the vet's concerns.  He said that all except for the red arrow were okay, because they were smooth.  Red arrow is evidently not as smooth and a bigger concern.

Left front.  Pretty normal.  Long toe.

Left front. Still normal, though at a funny angle.

OH!  And I haven't been testing his back pain well enough.  I press but not hard enough.  Vet pressed and he squirmed in pain.  I felt, again, like a giant asshole for riding a back sore horse.  I asked what the next step was.  Meds didn't work.  Time off didn't work.  He's improved, but it's not awesome.  So, vet recommended a chiropractor, which has me alllll sorts of excited.